All I Have
by SkyesAreBlue96
Summary: At 5 Meat was abandoned by her parents and left in the hands Gaga family. She grows up unaware of her background until a stranger aproaches her with a mysterious item and she is determined to find out exactly what it is. Better than it sounds promise !
1. Prologue

"Pop, we can't just leave her here!" the woman said.  
>"Roxy, we have no choice! Better that she's with them and alive, than with us and dead!" he argued back.<br>"But she's only five. She's not like them, how do you expect her to fit in? She doesn't look or speak the same and can barely say anything anyway! She'd get masacred at school! If they even bother to send her-"  
>"Look! She has to live! I will never forgive myself if she doesn't!" the man, Pop, was getting impatient, he didn't want to leave the child either, but he was doing what he thought was right for her future. They had to get with the other Bohemians and Roxy wanted to stay with their child. "She'll be safe, I promise." Roxy looked down at the sleeping girl in her arms, paranoid about raising her voice in case of waking her. She was smaller than the average five year old, with a mass of long, light blonde hair on her head, her eyelids shielded the powerful moonlit blue orbs she had for eyes.<br>"Will she remember-"  
>"No." the man said lightly, as if wishing it wasn't true. "It's better she doesn't." The mother kissed her softly on the head, lay her on the cold white floor before shedding a single tear that fell lightly onto the childs cheak. The girl moved slightly and Roxy was scared she had woke her, but was releaved to see she was still asleep.<br>"What about Prince?" the woman asked in half hearted curiosity.  
>"I haven't heard anything." the man said laying his hands on Roxy's shoulders. The woman lent down to plant a small kiss where her tear had landed.<br>"Keep safe my love." she whispered into the girls dream state. The young woman had to force herself to look away from the sleeping child, she knew if she saw her baby's face for even one more second, she wouldn't be able to go through with it. The man stepped forward towards the child. He placed a book at her side, lifting a small arm to place ontop of it. Her hair had the ocasional coloured braid or plat in it, which gave the girl her out of place look. The man took a few strands of hair on the underneith of her hair and tied something onto them that the woman didn't see. Then he took what looked like a train ticked out of his pocket and repeated this action. He kissed her on the crown of her head.  
>"Be brave my sweet." he told her lifting her up to embrace her lightly, careful not to wake her when putting her back down on the pavement. With those words he stood up and wrapped his arms around his love. "My two gorgeous girls. I love you both." he kissed his wife carefully on the lips and they ran from the quiet street they stood on. Pop and Roxy were never seen again after that.<p> 


	2. Chapter 1

- 4 years later -

Roxanne was a young student at VirtualPrimary in Globalsoft. One of 864 students. 56th oldest in year 5 with 127 children. And 12th youngest out of 35 in class 5G. She was known around the school for her fair blonde hair and prettiness. Boys from all years loved her. Girls thought she was a complete hooker for it. But not a single student would admit what they thought. She wasn't a dits either, she wasn't top of her class but her grades were good. Students did like her for her looks, however, that isn't all there is to a person. Her instant appearance showed grace and perfection, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she let out how ungraceful her true self was. A thick Scottish accent lay in her throat, and she could hardly be understood by any students. She had two close friends, Ben and Nao. In a normal situation Ben would be the boy and Nao would be the girl, in all fairness Gagas could agree fully. However, Ben, though being a girl, had a tough, tomboyish attitude about her, and Nao, as a lot of Gaga guys were accused of being, was gay, not the extremely feminine stereotypical gay people thought, he just liked guys. Roxanne didn't care that people thought she was putting herself down by hanging out with these two specific students, they were her friends, and she loved them. They weren't fazed by her looks, or her accent, her personality made up for it. She was always so happy, even when people gave her trouble, she just brushed it off. She wasn't arrogant; she just knew how to keep calm.

But little did any of those 864 students know how sad she really felt. Beneath that mask of high hopes and fresh humour, there hid a small child hiding from the world the truth of where she came from.

It was late January and the sun shone on VirtualPrimary like it always did. Roxanne was in the playground at break just staring up at the sky. She was so engrossed in her looking that she didn't notice a certain boy walk up to her.  
>"What. Are you doing?" he asked. The girl immediately snapped out of her dazed.<br>"Oh hey Charlie." she greeted the boy from 5B with her usual Scottish tongue. "Have yeh ever wondered whay the son alwa's shines durin' the dai?" she asked as if it were a natural question. He looked at her as if she's gone mad. "Ah mean there's nevar any otha weatha. Alwa's sun. No change or difference." he looked at her as if she should be in an asylum now. That was another thing people hated about her; she always had strange thoughts about the world and its activities.  
>"Ehm because it does?" he said rhetorically, then he ran back to his groups of mates to have a gossip. Over the years Roxanne had learnt that guys tended to bitch a lot more than girls, the girls were just more outspoken and bitchier to the person's face. It wasn't an everyday occurrence, but it was a true statement.<br>"Roxanne." she heard from behind her. She turned round to look at the person who had called her. A taller girl with short black hair wandered up to her.  
>"Ben have YOU ever though' whay the son alwa's shines?" the girl in question gave the blonde the exact same look as Charlie. She didn't really feel like being sent to the school nurse for the third time that week, so she just dropped the subject. "Oh forge' i'!"<p>

Back home Roxanne was up in her room on her bed watching the slow setting sun. Thinking of her day's curiosity and lack of answers from anyone. She didn't understand why she was always curious, she just thought of aspects of the world and wondered how they worked. It was just child curiosity. Surely.


	3. Chapter 2

The weekend came quickly and Roxanne chose to spend the day in the park just outside her front garden. The other local children thought she was a bit odd, but that was no change. All she ever did in the park was sit on a swing or a bench and just stare. She stared at anything; the sky, the ground, the buildings surrounding the park. Sometimes she even stared at the other children, the constant look of curiosity playing in her eyes.

She was sitting on a swing the Sunday afternoon, rocking back and forth. An idea came to her mind and it played there for a few seconds before she smiled and tipped her head back so she was looking at the area behind her upside down. She giggled at herself, wondering why it was so fun. Her rocking movement graduated into a full swing and she was soon having the time of her life with her new discovery.

Time passed quickly and she completely lost track of time and thoughts of the other children. The sky had begun to darken before she tipped her head forward again. No one was around. She stared around. How had she not seen everyone leaving, and surely a child would have told her it was getting dark. 'I'm hallucinating' she thought. She did feel a little light headed from being upside down so long. She shut her eyes in hope of her aloneness being her imagination. "When I open my eyes someone will be there." little did she know that her statement was true to every word. Slowly and carefully she opened her eyes. At first she thought it was just the shadows of the climbing frame a few metres away, but when she looked closer she saw a dark figure behind the slide in front the wall. And it was moving closer. Frozen where she sat, Roxanne didn't know what to do; she had never been in this sort of situation. There was no one in all of Planet Mall who dressed the way this person did. She couldn't see if it was a male or female, but their height made them look slightly older than herself. Other than the long, dark brown hooded cape Roxanne only got sight of the person's badly tattered trousers.

Within a few strides the person was standing directly in front of the swing she sat on. They took something square from underneath their cloak which Roxanne didn't recognise. They handed it to the girl and she stared at it in confusion.  
>"What is-"<br>"What it is," the person interrupted, their voice telling the girl that they were male, "is not relevant. What it does however is of most importance." Roxanne didn't understand.  
>"So what does it do?" she asked the hooded figure. They didn't answer. "Who are you?" the person didn't seem intent on answering at first and the girl was going to repeat the question, but the figure spoke before she could.<br>"You wouldn't know me if I told you my name-"  
>"So tell me anyway. If I don't know you, you have nothing to lose if you do tell me." she said before the person could continue.<br>"My name is Prince, no I'm not royalty before you say anything towards the theory." the girl looked at him as if saying she wouldn't have asked. The man began to walk away, but when they got back to the slide he turned back to face the swings. "Also you have beautiful hair, Roxanne." with that he was gone, the girl was completely shocked.

Summery: a mysterious hooded guy walks up to her, hands her something which she doesn't know what it is, stated it was of the upmost importance, complimented her hair, called her by her name after stating she didn't know him, then disappeared.

With the strange item now in her possession she headed back home, slightly stunned and scared of what had just happened.


	4. Chapter 3

As soon as Roxanne set foot in the door she went straight to her bedroom. Ignoring the questions, and statements of lateness, from her parents she double locked her door.  
>"What are you?" she asked the funny looking thing she held in her grasp. On the front there were two words, Roxanne had never read anything except a computer screen; it was illegal on Planet Mall to read anything on 'paper'. "Is that what you are?" she didn't know why she was asking the thing, it was inanimate. She lightly brushed the front of the thing with her fingers. Carefully and slowly she read the large engraved letters on the front. "Picture Book." Roxanne read aloud. She immediately went into panic. 'A book!' she thought, 'On Planet Mall! In Globalsoft protected grounds!'<br>"How?" she asked the book. She tried to open it but then found that there was a lock on it. It was a strange lock, not like the mechanical ones they had around her house. It looked fairly rusty and strong. The girl tried to wrestle with it for a few minuets, but soon gave up because it had barely budged.  
>"Oh come on you give it to me and don't tell me how to open it," she cursed, "brilliant." she said sarcastically.<p>

Roxanne sat on her bed staring at the thing for about an hour or so, she never heard the footsteps up the stairs, or her parents getting ready to go to bed. She didn't notice the light from the crack under her go out. The knock on her door brought her back to the world around her.  
>"Roxanne are you in bed yet?" her mother called through the door.<br>"Aye, but ah'm not tired." she replied.  
>"Well you need to sleep. School tomorrow." the girl hadn't realised how fast her weekend had gone by, tomorrow was school. What would she tell Nao and Ben about what happened in the park? Roxanne just hoped she had enough guts, or stupidity, to get the words out.<p>

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was break time at VirtualHigh and Roxanne had got Ben and Nao in a corner on the far side, making sure not to get caught by a teacher or other pupils.  
>"You've got a what?" Nao said with shock. "But they're- I mean there's no- How?"<br>"Some guy in the park gave it to me" Roxanne explained, "I don't know him, dressed funny as well, long hooded cape and tattered trousers." the others asked if they could see it. "Are you mad? If I was caught with it I'd be out before you could say 'Globalsoft'!" she warned. "Anyway, I can't even get the stupid thing open; it's locked with some weird metal contraption that I've never seen before."  
>"I think I've heard of those!" Ben said sounding intellectual, but also like a kid listening to a bedtime story, "I think they're called Padlocks, you need a Key of some sort to open it." the blonde asked where she could find this 'Key', but Ben said that it could very well be anywhere, each Key was specific to its Padlock.<br>"Brilliant." Roxanne said sarcastically. The other two were trying to keep their mouths from gaping at the still evident shock that they had. Their reaction was perfectly acceptable; their best friend had an illegal item in her house somewhere that some stranger had given her. If any teacher would find out, it wouldn't take long till Globalsoft knew about it too. But little did Roxanne know that things were about to take a turn; for the worst or best, no one knew.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The blonde was sitting in her room after school that afternoon, she'd been there for at least two hours already. Roxanne hadn't had a full conversation with her parents since the incident in the park. To be honest, she hadn't talked to anyone much since then, it was all that was on her mind; her work deteriorated, people avoided her more than usual, and she just didn't converse with her parents. She didn't even know what the thing was. All she knew was that she had to somehow open that 'Padlock' as Ben had called it. But where could Roxanne possibly find the Key? The blonde thought back to what the person had said the evening in the park:

_"What it is, is not relevant. What it does however is of most importance.  
>"My name is Prince, no I'm not royalty before you say anything towards the theory.<br>"Also you have beautiful hair, Roxanne."_

Why did he compliment her hair, it was just the dull boring blonde it had always been. Roxanne went to brush the underside of her hair through with her fingers, but she was shocked to find not knots entangling her curls.


	5. Chapter 4

Brushing through her hair, Roxanne found she could get no further than a few inches down her locks. When she got that far her fingers came to a hault at a cold, odd shaped loop, on which strands of blonde hair were wrapped - more like knotted - around it. The girl, not knowing what it was, pulled the loop forwards to inspect what the alien object was.

A cold, dark coloured, grungey looking thing. Completely out of place in the pristine walls of Planet Mall. It was an odd shape. It had, in a way, three sections. The first was the small, thin, metal loop Roxanne had felt in her hair. The loop was a perfect circle apart from a small dent where two parts were moulded together. The second was a bar, same thickness as the loop attached to it, in a fixed position at a dent in the loop. The third was a flat piece of square metal the same thickness as the bar. It had weird groves in the side opposite to the one attached to the rest of it, Roxanne traced them with her finger. They were rough, sharp even. The whole thing was about the equvilent length of Roxanne's middle finger, she wondered how she'd never noticed it before.

She lay on her bed for at least half an hour, just staring at this piece of metal. She tried to bend it at one point, right in the middle of the bar, but it didn't move an inch. Roxanne honestly had not a clue what to do with this strange thing. Looking at the digital clock on her wall the girl decided it was probably best to sleep it off and re-aproach the situation in the morning. But when Roxanne put her head down and fell into a dream state, she soon wished she hadn't.

_Roxanne found herself to appear quite a bit older, at least sixteen. She was running down a dark street. It was all so unfamiliar, so unreal. Not even her clothes were familiar. She was wearing a rather short pair of red tartan shorts, fishnet tights ripped in several places, heavy black combat boots, and a purple corset decorated with numerous gold studs, bits of black fraying tasles hung round her shoulders. The only familiar thing was, of all things, her lime green bra, skillfully peeking out from over her corset. Grim buildings with broken windows and doors hanging off their hinges stood either side of the small girl, towering over her. She rightly observed that she had something tucked under her arm as she ran. It was the "Picture Book". Behind her she heard shouting and harsh orders being given.  
>"Get back here rebel!" one shouted.<br>"She has the texts! Don't let her escape!" said another. They were shouting to her. She was running from them. As she ran further down the street she began to see shadows on the floor. As she got closer she was horrifide to see that those shadows weren't shadows at all. Bodies. Pale, cold, unmoving bodies. They were dead. Is that what was in store for her? She continued to run, never stopping for air. The ground suddenly disappeared from underneath Roxanne's feet and she fell to the ground, her hand didn't scrape on the uneven gravel though. She looked forward to see what had stopped her fall. It was then that she wished she'd kept her eyes in their previous position. The soft landing was fabric, dark grey coloured in the dim light, but Roxanne knew the colour it was supposed to be. In front of her was the boy, or man, Prince, that had given her the book she held. Roxanne wondered how she still had hold of it. She tightly curled over in attempts not to let any tears out, then she saw her hair. It wasn't in it's usual neat straight state, but then again what was at this point. A mane would be a better word to describe it as. A thick blonde mane, with pieces of ribbon and other materials Roxanne had never seen. Including a small slip of paper dangling by the side of her face. She ignored it and went back to focussing on the man. He still wore those same tattered, well more torn now, trousers. She looked up to his face, but her veiw was obstructed by Prince's hood. She wondered what he looked like under there, why he always covered his face. Was he dis-figured, did he have odd eyes, maybe he didn't have a face at all. Out if curiosity the girl crawled over to him, her tights catching on a stone and ripping in one more place. Roxanne reached for the material over the man's face, but as she does she felt a shadow wash over her. She looked up to see a man, darkness covering his face. He points an unfamiliar item at Roxanne. A quick flash of brilliant white light appeared._

The girl jolted upright in her bed, her breathing uneasy and quick.  
>"It was just a dream." she reassured herself. Roxanne looked over at the book, the bar placed neatly on top of it. How could one small thing cause so much trouble. "No it didn't!" she told herself sternly, 'it was just a dream' she thought. "Just a stupid dream."<br>Hesitantly the girl lay herself back down to resume her sleep state, scared to relive what she had just seen, but too exhausted from it to stop her eyelids drooping and letting herself drift off into a dreamless sleep.


	6. Chapter 5

The next day Roxanne was quieter at school. Her work, for once, was her main focus. Ben and Nao were most concerned. At the end of the day Ben grabbed Nao at pulled him round a corner into a hallway where no one was standing.  
>"Maybe she's got in trouble with the parents." Nao suggested.<br>"Pfft! Have you seen the way her parents treat her? They're so polite, she's never in trouble, it's like she's a permanent guest." Ben hissed, unlike Roxanne, she had a few problems at home, namely her little sister, who was two years younger; she was always in the popular crowds and would constantly boast about it around the house. Roxanne didn't have the trouble of a younger sibling. Nao said he had never noticed, but then again he had never been to Roxanne's, he didn't want the embarrassment of being in a perfect household.

"Maybe we should talk to her?" the boy wondered, but Ben didn't have chance to reply because the very subject person had just rounded the corner at the other end of the hallway.  
>"Speak of the blonde and the blonde shall appear." the distant girl sat on a bench by the wall to obtain her infamous stare. The two children cautiously, but naturally wandered over to the oblivious third party member. As they edged closer they noticed, well Ben did, that Roxanne wasn't staring at all, she was actually looking at something, quite hard in fact. She hadn't noticed her friends approaching until they were only a foot away from her. As they took just one step closer the blonde shot out of her concentration and physically jumped at the shock of the sudden appearance of her friends.<br>"Heh, hey guys." she said hesitantly.  
>"Hey yourself." Nao said jokingly. They both giggled. Ben looked hard at Roxanne, analysing her slightly. Her laughing was a cover for something. Something was up and she was worried.<br>"Roxanne you been feeling alright today?" she asked her friend.  
>"Yeah, why?"<br>"Well you've been rushing straight through your work today; you even finished Professor Caddington's technology theory with twelve minuets of the lesson to spare. You hate Professor Caddington. Plus you didn't even complain when Professor Greylin told you, you had dance instead of music programming tomorrow. You know you don't dance for anything, out of attitude or talent.  
>"Maybe I want to do well with my lessons." the blonde gave back harshly, "Maybe I want to get good marks when it comes to the leaving exams."<br>"Or maybe you're just being selfish!" Ben spat back. "It was always friends before work; it's what we promised, what you came up with. You're getting good marks anyway. Something happened yesterday that you're not telling us. We're you're best friends. Please tell us."

Roxanne looked at her friends for a moment, both shocked and hurt by what she'd just heard. Her eyes suddenly became cloudy with tears. Not wanting her friends to see her cry, Roxanne turned away from them and ran to the school gates, only briefly stopping to catch a quick breath before she took the short route home. She would go straight to her bedroom, lock the door and stay there the rest of the evening.

Her parents didn't even seem to acknowledge the loyd stomps as she walked up the stairs. They were too busy killing time chatting away to the neibours on their new hologram comunicator. In her room Roxanne could be herself, to take off this perfect mask she seemed to have plastered on at school. But that mask cracked today, she had shown people it was possible for her to cry, her imperfections falling down her face with each tear. Her blurred vision rested on the book she had been given, sitting on a chair with the bar resting on it. She grabbed it harshly, causing the metal bar to fly into the middle of the floor. Roxanne frantically tried to rip the refinements off the side, wanting so badly to escape her world even for a brief moment. She wanted to rip each individual page out and tear it into multiple pieces. It was the book's fault all this had happened. No, she thought, it was that stupid strangers fault for giving it to her in the first place. She continued to try to rip it open, but still the stupid thing refused to. She cried out as the thing flew across the room and hit the far wall before landing, with a loud thud, on the hard floor. Silence. Had Roxanne's parent heard the crash?  
>"No." she said through gritted teeth, they were still talking to the neighbours.<p>

She sat there staring at the empty space for a minute. But it was what was beyond that space that suddenly caught her eye. For the past ten minutes she had been staring at that bar. Actually, it was more the square at the top of the bar that caught her attention; the strange, uneven pattern that it had on the side. Her eyes wandered to the metal contraption holding the book together, an uneven slit at the bottom of it, marking the diameter of a small circle. Her vision flicked between the two objects. Then it clicked.


	7. Chapter 6

As she held the bar in her hand, and the book rested on her lap, she manoeuvred getting the square easily placed in the slot in the metal contraption. With a bit of effort it went in. Nothing.

"Oh come on! Please just open." she begged it, but, as an inanimate object would, it did nothing. "At least a computer can respond back." she mumbled. As her gaze lay on the contraption the fiddled with the hoop of the metal bar. Spinning her finger round it. Suddenly she heard a low click as her finger jolted. Roxanne looked down and sure enough the contraption had opened. "Thank you." she said to it. She didn't seem to acknowledge the book couldn't hear her.

The girl sat there staring at it for a while with a blank expression on her face. What did she do now? Did she open it? She was terrified to. But after remembering all the trouble she had gone through to get it open, all the trouble the book had caused, she decided to take the risk and turn the page. Opening that first page was a lot harder that Roxanne could have ever thought possible. But when she did, she didn't understand why it took her so long.

Inside the cover was a slip of old torn paper, on it was some writing. The scribe was blotchy with what looked like splashes of ink, but the girl did her best to decipher the text and read it with care.

_"Our dearest Roxanne,_

_You couldn't possible know how hard it was for us to do what we did. We've always loved you, but for you to continue in our world would have meant an early death that wasn't your fault. You probably don't even know who we are, or anything about our world anymore, you were only 5 after all. Old enough to know, but young enough to forget. Even now as I write this and know what is to happen to us, what would have happened to you, you are still always my first thoughts and I know you will be our last. I know I will never get to see you again, see your beautiful smile as your father twirls you round the floor to our favourite songs. I'll never comb my fingers through that long blonde hair of yours and hear you complain about how I style it. I wish now that you'd not been part of this whole thing. We hope and pray to whatever Gods may watch over you that wherever you are and whatever you grow up to be, you know of where you once came from, and who you truly are. Your life is still waiting out there for you, all your dreams and songs, just waiting to be rediscovered._

_All our love xx"_

That was it, no signature, no name, address, email. Nothing. Then Roxanne noticed another piece of paper slightly poking out from behind the first. She pulled it out. This one was slightly newer, and more recently written and nowhere near as ink covered as the first slip, but the scrawl was in a terrible state. It looked like it had been written by a 2 year Gaga with a broken finger. It read:

_"Roxanne,_

_By now you should have guessed that you're not a true blooded Gaga, if you haven't, I've just told you and will probably get done for it later. Anyway, there's a lot I have to fit into this and not much time. You are fast growing up in the Virtual world and we needed to intervene while you're still able the change your opinion of life. My story, well more our story, is as follows:  
>When you were just five, Globalsoft set out a rally of Secret Police to find and kill any Minibs, young Bohemians under the age of eleven. Unfortunately you were within that category. Any other Bohemians would be taken in and either tortured for information, or killed in the process. I had escaped long before any of this, went on a voyage across the country in search of other rebel bases, I can tell you our parents weren't too pleased. The Secret Police hunted them down, two of few who knew the whereabouts of the ancient Texts. Our parents didn't want you to go through that horror; being the youngest at the base it didn't seem fair. So they did the lowest thing anyone could. They took you away and hid you in the virtual world. Your memory cleaned of all ideas of Bohemians and Texts. You would fit in fine, except for your accent. The only link you have left with your true family. I'm surprised you haven't lost it, you've been away so long I would have thought it had disintegrated into nothing by now. But no, it stays strong, just like your curiosity. That never goes away. Why are you different? Why does it never rain? Don't deny it; I've watched you stare at the sky.<em>

_Anyway I fear I must draw this to a close. All you need to know is in here. I just hope one day you'll find more than what these pages hold._

_Love yah Sis"  
><em>  
>Again no way of contact. Whoever these people were, they didn't want to be contacted or found out in anyway. Roxanne sat there for a while, comparing the two pieces of writing. They had definitely been written by different people. The first seemed like a female's delicate hand, though messy with ink, it was obvious by what was written she was older and mature. The second was that of a boy, young and scruffy scrawled letters showed this, though it was cleaner and better preserved than the first. The girl flipped over the page. It was evident this book was meant to be for her, there was no doubt about it from the letters at the beginning, but why?<p>

Each page she turned had a photograph, a real paper photograph. Under each one was a caption of words, some in different scrawled hand from others. Some scribbled, some neat. Among all the pictures one face kept appearing, a young blonde girl, with powerful blue moonlit orbs for eyes. It took her a while to realise it was herself. But when she did she broke down to the floor in a flood of burning tears. Whether it was for joy or sorrow she didn't know. All Roxanne knew was she was a living lie.


	8. Chapter 7

A week passed. Not a day went by that Roxanne didn't think about the pictures she'd seen. They played on her mind, haunting her every thoughts and seeping into her dreams. Her school life didn't change. She was still the same unpopular blonde every guy wanted and every girl wanted to be. But her home life had become distanced. She'd spend each night in her room either looking at photos or writing on the spare blank pages at the back of the book. Writing to an invisible family she didn't even know, telling them her day's activities.

It was early one night when she was flicking through the book as she did each night when she had began to notice a boy in those photos. He looked at least four years older than the girl. Roxanne took the guess that he was her brother, since they looked somewhat weirdly alike. In the early parts of the book he was everywhere, playing with the blonde baby. But as she went further through, his appearance in the photos decreased, until, after a page with the caption "Roxanne's 5th birthday" he disappeared completely. The girl's smile wasn't quite the same in the book after that, it wasn't as big and didn't seem full, as if a large part of her life had gone missing.

Roxanne began to pay more attention to the photos after that, taking in every detail of it before turning a page. She got so obsessed with the photos that she had began to ignore the captions beneath them. Until the day she relooked at an old photo early on in the book. It was of the baby and the boy. He was cradling her sleeping form in his arms as he looked towards the camera with a big smile. Under it, it read "Prince with Roxanne 04/09/2289".  
>The girl dropped the book down on her lap. Had she just read that right? She reread it. Yes. The man's words played in her mind.<p>

_"My name is Prince, no I'm not royalty before you say anything towards the theory."_

Her brother. That man. He had been so close to her. He could have told her everything. Taken her back to where she belonged. But he had just stood there and spoke in riddles. She hated herself for not listening closely. Looking back at what he said she could hear his voice in her head. He had been Scottish. He had her accent and she didn't even hear it. But one thing she couldn't understand. When she had last encountered him his structure seemed that of a grown man in his twenties, but if her calculations were correct, he would only be thirteen now. Roxanne was so confused, but at the same time she somehow fully understood. If that boy was from outside the virtual world, he had to hide who he was, shadow himself from civilisation. She just didn't find it fair that he had just stood there and not told her something that could indicate where to find him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was surprising to Roxanne that her reputation hadn't changed over the past few weeks. It felt odd to her, because she felt like her whole life had changed, it seemed strange no one had noticed. Each student knew her, so to speak, but they knew a lie.  
>That day at school she was encountered by a girl in the year above. They had bumped into each other in the corridor and Roxanne had ended up on the floor.<br>"Oi wotch whear you're goin'!" she told her.  
>"Well if it isn't little miss Roxanne. Florence has been looking for you all day." the girl, Abbie her name was, said.<br>"Whot does she wont with me? Ah'm no use to her so lay oaff or ai'll get Professor Gillingam." the girl threatened. The older girl failed to stifle a laugh.  
>"What is with your voice? You'd think you were from the upperlands. To be honest, the pathetic weed are I wouldn't be surprised." Abbie said in a mocking tone. 'Maybe she's right' Roxanne thought, 'maybe I come from the Scottish Region'. This thought didn't make her feel better,<br>the Scottish Region, or 'upperlands' as most Gagas called it, was said to be where all the Bohemians, foul worthless beings, were. Most Gagas called it 'the 'upperlands' to mock them, students barely ever crossed paths with a Scottish Regioner without making some remark. Then again, the students didn't tend to cross paths with one. Globalsoft did have an edition of VirtualSchool, a quite good one too, up there, but there had been rumours that that was where more Bohemian outbreaks and invasions to try to overpower them. The percentage was something along the lines of 19% of students rebelled against VirtualSchool laws, 87% of that become Bohemians, and 56% of those are spotted in riots and invasions. Whereas in London only 2% of students rebel, 34% of them become Bohemians, and 21% of those are seen in riots. Those were the rumours that went about the school anyway.

That evening Roxanne was sitting in the lounge, doing her Computer Basics homework when her mum walked in to check on her.  
>"Mam." Roxanne said without taking her eyes off the computer screen.<br>"Yes darling." the woman asked without hesitation.  
>"Whear do ah come from?" the expression on her mother's face was one to be seen.<br>"W- well, um... you see darling, when a man and a woman love each other very much-"  
>"Not THAT whear ah come from mam!"<p>

"Oh. Um... What an absurd question to ask Roxanne. Why do you ask such idiocy?" her mother tried to say cheerily, but the paranoia showed through.  
>"Well Abb- never mind." Roxanne stopped as quick as she started. "Ah was jost wonderin'."<br>"Well w- where do you think you came from Sweetheart?" the woman was clearly worried about something because her voice stuttered slightly.

"I donnae mind bein' born, and there're nae pictures of me when ah was a bairne." The woman stood stunned at what had just escaped her daughter's mouth. "What yah gawking at?" she continued, seeing the shocked expression on her mother's face.

"Wh- what did you just say?" the woman stuttered. Roxanne didn't know what to reply, but she still tried again.

"Ah donnae ken." Roxanne covered her mouth in shock of the word that escaped it only now realising the reason for the woman's stare. The girl couldn't understand the words that were so fluently leaving her mouth, she knew what she had meant, but she'd never used the word before in her known life, it was always 'don't' or 'did not'. Never 'donnae'. From the look her mother was giving her you would have thought she'd just offended her to the full extent.

"I- you-" the woman stuttered. "G- go to your room, and don't come back down until you learn to talk properly." the child could only follow instruction in confusion, unaware of the wrong she had done.  
>As she ascended the stairs, Roxanne stopped when she overheard her parents talking.<br>"We have to do something about this, it's a mockery." her mother said.  
>"And what do you supposed we do dear? Globalsoft will lock us up if they find out we've been harbouring a fugitive for four years. And think what they'll do to Roxanne." her father argued.<br>"Well we can't keep her; she's not ours to keep."  
>"But she's a minor." the man tried to defend the girl, but the woman was having none of it.<br>"Did you not hear the way she spoke to me?" the woman's pitch rose to a new octave Roxanne had never heard. "Like one of those... Upplanders." she spat out.

The girl couldn't listen to any more of it. She ran to her room and slammed the door as hard as she could - being a pressure censored door it wasn't easy to slam. She crumbled on to the bed in floods of angry tears. She saw the book she was given in the corner of her eye, still resting on the chair. Seeing it she began to cry harder.  
>"Why did you leave me on my own?" she screamed at the pile of pages feeling the hot tears stream down her face. "I was just a kid! No more than a bloody toddler and you abandoned me!" she choked out the words, drowning in her crying, clinging the sheets for security, but they weren't enough. She needed a safe haven, something she knew she would never find between her four walls.<br>Her parents sat downstairs, killing time, like all Gagas did. But not Roxanne. She couldn't take waiting for an answer anymore.


	9. Chapter 8

- 7 years later -

Roxanne continued to run down the dark street. The shouting behind her continued. 'Do those yuppies never give up?' she thought to herself.  
>"Get back here rebel!" one shouted. She stopped for a moment on a raised boulder, knowing the distance between her and the approaching gang of men. She turned to face them with an amused smile on her lips.<p>

"Rebel? I'm offended," she joked; "I think 'Freedom Fighter' has a better ring to it, whad'ya say?" she laughed to herself, crouching on her perch.

"Get down rebel and face your charges!" the girl rolled her eyes. It was the same remarks every time. It was getting rather monotonous.

"Some things never change... alright, alright," she raised her hands in a surrendering fashion, "... but you've got to catch me first." Doing a skilful backwards walkover off the boulder she continued to run in the direction she had been travelling.

"She has the texts! Don't let her escape!" they began shouting again.

The 'texts' that the yuppies thought she had was in fact the picture book she had been given; attached to a harness on her back, made of various ribbons and materials she had sewn together. She never let it out of her sight. On occasion, when she had time when she was camping out, she would write little messages in it to keep her occupied.

Grim buildings began to appear in front of her. All with broken windows and doors hanging off their hinges. They towered over her, plunging her deep into shadows, giving Roxanne the advantage. Living in the Outlands for seven years, away from the bright pristine walls of Globalsoft, had helped her eyes had adjusted to the dark. Observing the crumbling walls, she searched for a good hiding spot to lose herself in. It wasn't long till she had spotted one. A half fallen wall near the edge of the abandoned street. Silently as she could, Roxanne made her way over to the distant pile of bricks, treading carefully as she went. Although her vision was accustomed to the dark, the area around her was still unfamiliar and new. Miscalculating her step, her foot found a shallow ditch. Falling to the ground her shin scraped a heavy stone on the rough gravel, tearing at the soft skin. She let in a gasp of pain, straight away wishing she hadn't. In the silence the guards had heard her; Roxanne knew this by the sound of footsteps getting louder as they got closer to the girl on the floor. She tightly curled over, trying to stop the blood as she bit back the tears that threatened to fall. She couldn't concentrate on pain right now, the yuppies were getting closer, Roxanne had to get to the wall, and quick.  
>"Show yourself rebel! We know you're there." the girl didn't answer, but rose cautiously to her feet. Through immense pain, Roxanne staggered over to the wall. Having the disadvantage of an injured leg she could not take as much care in silence, but instead had to opt for speed. Wedging herself between the acute wall she bit hard on her lip, refusing to let out a cry as gravel and dust invaded the, now further split, gash. Not being accustomed to pain, Roxanne knew she couldn't last long without making a small amount of noise with the sheer agony she was in. Taking the bandage from her hair that she had been using as a headband, she bound it tightly round the wound, biting her lip to stifle the painful cry.<p>

Waiting in the silence, curled into a tight ball under the wall, Roxanne lay for what seemed like hours. Occasionally hearing the sound of feet. She wondered how long she would have to lay there on the rough ground. After a few hours the sound ceased and all that could be heard was the wind whistling through the houses. Lying there alone, for the first time in a long time Roxanne thought about the family she'd left behind. How they just sat watching their new holographic TV as she crawled out of her bedroom window. How they never tried to search for her in the first few years that she was missing off of the Globalsoft radar.

_"Well we can't keep her, she's not ours."_  
>The woman's words burned into the young girl's brain, causing a mental scar that would last her lifetime.<p>

Roxanne took out the picture book, squinting to see the faces on the tattered pages, some of which were falling out. The book was as worn out as she was. She looked at the photos of her real family, the one she had never seen as far as her memory went. The girls head was spinning trying to remember any times she'd spent with them, but the heartache of abandonment hurt too much, enough to kill her. She started to cry, closing the book, blocking any thought to do with it out of her mind as she strapped it to her back once more. She would fight for herself. She would fight to find the family she belonged to.

The girl woke up to a bright light shining down on her. She squinted as her vision tried to focus on the white reflecting scene around her. Pristine. She struggled to sit up from her lying position, but was pushed back down by a forceful hand. Roxanne tried to fight against her restraints but it was hopeless. A glint of a needle shone in her line of view and she panicked.

"Boss we got a fighter." A female voice said, "She has a plate, so most likely Gaga." Roxanne had forgot about that, she had deactivated it years ago, so how could they trace it from so far out of the Dome? "Bohemian dress though."

When her gaga clothes had began to get too small she gathered scrap bits of material she had found over the years, making an odd but comfortable attire. Fishnet tights, found ripped in several places, a pair of heavy black combat boots she'd nicked from a deserted base camp, a black off-the-shoulder top with rather revealing slits on the front, and a pair of tatty, red tartan jeans. The one thing she kept was the lime green bra that her 'mother' had given her when she was nine for "when she was older". Being a fair few years older, she was slightly more well endowed than before; the bra was only slightly too small. Her hair, not having the help of a brush, had not maintained it's old neat, straight state, not that Roxanne cared. It had grown to the bottom of her back; it was now a thick blonde mass, decorated with pieces of ribbon and other materials she had found.

A sharp pain suddenly entered the side of Roxanne's neck, paralyzing her from the neck down, but she could still feel hand exploring her body. She wanted to shout for help, but she knew none would come. Globalsoft had captured her and had her strapped to an operating table unable to move. Any attempt of fighting now was futile.

"First things first we need to remove the tracer." A male voice said as someone lifted her forearm. The girl was confused. Why was Globalsoft trying to destroy their own technology; after all she did grow up in their world so was at one point in their system. Although Roxanne was Bohemian born she was still fitted with the same arm techno-band that all the other children were, so she would fit in a bit better and be up to date with all the latest fashions and news, much to her disgust.

"Deactivated." She protested. The voices asked her to repeat herself, not hearing what she had said. "I- I deactivated the- the techno-band, it- it's useless to you." She stuttered, half through fear, half through not having full control of her speech, having a crushing feeling penetrate her chest and lungs. The people told her that she merely decreased the polarity of the device, laughing that there was no way to deactivate it. Roxanne screamed in pain as felt the cold touch of a blade pierce her skin as someone permanently removed the band from her arm. A harsh hand dug two fingers into the open wound, and the original voice demanded to know who sent the girl. Roxanne cried out in agony, claiming that no one had told her to do anything; she was in the Outlands of her own free will. A cool breeze hit the bare skin of her leg as the material of her jeans was torn. "You tube, whoever you are keep your boabie the hell away from me you filthy perv or I'll boot you in the heid!"

"Ehm... what did she say?" the female voice said. Roxanne kept forgetting that no one understood half the things she said and she cursed for letting her language slip again. To reassure her of the person's intentions, the familiar feel of a blade now pressed against her exposed skin, digging into the just healing wound from the previous night, causing the girl uncomfortable pain. "Who sent you?" Roxanne didn't answer, but cringed in unbearable pain. The person repeated the question, digging the knife further into her leg.

"Nae one!" she cried, surrendering to the pain, feeling liquid spill down her skin. "Ah donnae ken what you're taukin' bout. Ah've spent the last seaven years in the Outlands trying to giat awai from you Globalsoft bastards!" tears started to stream down Roxanne's face, much to her annoyance.

"Did she just sa- did she just call us-?" a new voice said.

"Pass the morphine quick." The female voice said again. "Shit what have we done?"

Roxanne felt another sharp pain in her neck, and soon everything went black again.

A knock interrupted the girls slumber and she groaned in response.

"Go away Pinocchio, I don't want the cupcake with the chocolate frogs, I like egg sandwiches." She told the person outside. Fast coming to her senses, Roxanne realised she was in an unfamiliar room lying on an old double mattress, lights flashing on some sort of control panel to her left; in front of her a chipped navy paint door, with a window centre of it, covered by a tatty red cloth to allow some privacy. The girl sat up quickly, receiving a banging headache as reward. The knock came again. "What?" she shouted at the door, wishing nothing more than to be left in piece to nurse what felt like a purple nose's hangover. A young boy came in, carrying a bottle of some unlabeled liquid; he couldn't have been more than ten. "Come near me with that wean and things are going to get midden between us."

"Stopta aldo gobna salmor yah gash." the boy replied without seeming at all threatened by the older girl.

"Right, gawk into mah een. There is nae wai ah am touchin that mid."

"Oh for Freddie's sake quit your greet, shut yah grill and drink the bloody stuff or continue to suffer that headache of yours." he shouted at her. She just stared at him without saying another word. The boy sighed in annoyance, slammed the bottle base on the floor, leaving the girl to decide whether or not to take it.

"Paddy." Roxanne said before the boy left the room.

"Jockie" and with that the door closed behind him.

The girl sat on the mattress unmoving a little while longer, staring at the bottle. She wasn't sure if the boy was being genuine or trying to poison her. Thinking that it couldn't get much worse than being captured by Globalsoft she decided to drink the mouthful of liquid. True to his word, the headache soon disappeared and Roxanne could think clearly. Looking around the room with a clear mind she realized that her picture book and carrier was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly a voice came from outside the room that caught Roxanne's attention.

"Oi Paddy, get yah hein over here and help me geat these materials to Macca."

The door to the control room flung open, almost ripping it off its hinges. A red with rage Roxanne was on a course headlong towards the source of the voice. All the people in the station watched in awe as the new crazy Scottish girl walked up to Prince and gave him a hard forehand round the cheek.

"You bastard." she cursed. The boy stumbled back, caught by the kid who had brought Roxanne the drink.

"Well I guess I deserved that after all this time." He said in response.

"You deserve a hell of a lot more than that for what you did." The blonde told him. "Seven bloody years I spent in the Outlands. All because you were too cowardice to tell me who and where you were." At this point the second in command walked over to the situation in hope of breaking it up.

"What's going on here Prince?"

"Brit this is- Roxanne." the boy in question explained, still recovering from the impressive slap the girl gave. "She's my-"

"Sister." Roxanne finished. "That you abandoned when I was just five. Speaking of which where is my picture book?" Prince turned to a red headed girl in what can only be described as a skin tight latex cat-suit.

"Charlotte, give it back." he said. The girl walked forward pulling the book out from behind her in its sling, handing it to the Scottish girl without a word. "And the birthday picture where I have cake in my hair." He said as the girl made her way back to her post. She turned around with a sly smile etched on her lips.

"Now that she can get herself." She said, revealing the position of the folded photograph.

"With pleasure." Roxanne said.


End file.
